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Beethoven’s Influences of Symphony – 1

前言: 我已經常常說，香港的現代教育，簡直是混賬到極，不知所謂到不能忍受的地步。香港那所訓練未來老師的最高學府裡頭的 “教授” 們給了 assignment 同學，又驚同學們沒有時間做，又驚他們不識做，又驚題目出得深，就說叫他們抄書就可以了。我有一位私人學生急急 call 我，並告訴我看完 Palisca 那本 History textbook 天書，都沒有直接答案談及有 Beethoven 對後世音樂和音樂家的影響。現在是江湖告急。嗚呼! 連那些修音樂為主科的學位學生，隨口也不能 present 十分鐘有關貝多芬對音樂的貢獻和影響，還敢說自己是讀音樂，懂音樂的嗎? 看著書本也不懂 “抄”，(應該是偷)，怎辦? 我們常說，熟讀唐書三百首，不會吟詩也會 “抄” 嘛。坦白說，平時我指導這些私人學生，也常常提及不同作曲家和作品的風格特色和對後世的貢獻。些個同學是學 AMusTCL 考試研習的，Set piece 是 Schubert 的第五交響曲，我也談及過這首作品和 Beethoven 的交響作品的相同和不同的關係。我也曾教過同學，舒氏一生以 Beethoven 這位同期的前輩大師為學習對象，連死前也想學習 Counterpoint (這是Beethoven 最精，但 Schubert 最弱的技巧)，皆因要寫偉大的交響曲，沒有精練的對位技巧是不行的。可是同學們就當私人老師是補鑊助理，”求其” 要他們改改 past paper 就算是跟他們學了。他們就只關心學校是否給他們一張證書，所以對校內的課就比較認真，私人嘛….嘿嘿….

正文:

Carl Dahlhaus suggested that the development of symphony in the Romantic period could be described as circum-polar; composers had to response to or answer to, to more or less, the challenges and new trends by Beethoven. The following discussion is the Beethovean influences of the development of symphony.

First, large scale, and longer work: All symphonies have to be extended in order to express the aesthetics of Romantic Sublimity. One of the elements that Romantic composers to deal with this expression was to create longer and larger work. In reception to Beethoven’s lengthly symphony ninth, Malher, for instance, created symphonies of almost double the length of his predecessor.

Second, greater emotional contrasts: Emotinal content of the materials ranged more widely than that used in the Classical symphony. Thanks should go to the emergence of the liberal humantistic idea of Individualism in 19th century Europe. Greater and deeper explorations on individual inner emotions were demanded by artists in their artistic creations, claiming for the relief of one’s sentimental burdens and immersed unexplainable passions. The common saying, ” I am not the best, though, I am different” was undoubtedly the incentive for composers seeking their inner emotional expressions through the media of musical art. Symphony, regarded as the highest form of all arts, was taken-for-granted to act as a sharp weapon to achieve this purpose. Beethoven not only expressed his “giant-tyrant” like personality and zeals through his “heroic” symphonies, such as symphony no. 3 and no. 5, but also exerted a large impact on the later followed composers to investigate their thoughts, ideals and dreams of a higher socio-political level through the musical genre of symphony. Mendelossohn’s Symphony 5, Reformation, for instance, can be regarded as a response to the political turmoil of the Post-revolutionary period in the 19th century Europe.

Third, Beethoven established the uniqueness of each symphony: each symphony had different aims and confronts different problems: What is a symphony? When classical composers seek to maintain a balance form and shape of a symphony with the use of sonata-allegro form as the first movement, then following by a contrast lyrical slow movment, Beethoven attempted to extend such a rigid genre and structure by adding more weights on the coda and the last two movments. He replaced scherzo for Haydnean minuet, showing his inventive, however courageous, experiment to challenge the classical formality. How about the classical point of view of the balance of keys? What is the ultimate goal for such balance and well-proportion? Composers after Beeethoven would not hestitate to write any form of symphonic music that went far beyond the boundary of a conventional musical genre. If Beethoven could complete a symphony in five movements (symphony no. 6), instead of a standardized balance form of four movements, why not me! Perhaps, this can help us understand why Schubert ‘s symphony 5 in Bb major broke the normal rule of a sonata principle that the recapituation section returns in subdominant key, instead of the normal tonic key. It seems that this breakthrough just wanted to inform Schubert;s contemporary audience that there is no need to reolve dominant to tonic in sonata principle.

Fourth, The whole symphony becomes unified through its developing emotional content, outlining a psychological journey: To Haydn and Mozart of the Classical period, symphony, was not more than an instrumental piece to let different sounds sounding together. They wrote symphony for the patrons, for the rising middle-class concerts. They wrote because audience liked it. Beethoven, on the other hand, wrote symphony for himself. According to Sir Grove, Beethoven’s music never failed to depict a protrait of Beethoven himself. Symphony no. 3, for instance, although was written originally for the dedication to Bonaparte, an ideal hero liberating the layman people from political monarchy, was undoubtedly a sonic image of Beethoven himself. The music of this “Heroic” symphony can be realized as four stage of the growth of hero, say, first movement, is the born of a naive hero, second movement, is the dead of hero, third, is the resurrection of hero, and then the finale is the triumphant of hero. While Beethoven wrote symphony to seek the issue of hero, Gustav Mahler, on the other hand, followed Beethoven to transcend symphony as a medium to explore the issues of life and death. Richard Strauss, though he wrote symphonic poem, instead of a conventional symphonic genre, tended to complete the ‘definition’ of ‘Hero’, after Beethoven’s attempt to do so, in his famous work ‘Heldenleben’, ‘The Life of a Hero.’ True, Beethovean effects prevails every sorts of musical work, ranging from a tiny toy-like miniature to a monumental symphony in the19th century up to the 20th century.

To Be Continued………..待續

David Leung (theorydavid)

2011-03-11 (published)

Interpreting Beethoven’s Middle and Late Styles of Work

前言: 對於 Beethoven 來說，或許耳聾了是一個不幸中的恩賜。就是因為他不再須要了解別人的想法，只為根本聽不到他們說甚麼，所以，他就可以用近乎肆意放縱的心態去創作，想寫甚麼就寫甚麼，不須理會別人的感受，甚至喜歡與否。這樣，他流下來那如謎一樣的音樂，讓各種各色人去評論，研究，探索，甚至閒談，吹捧。這都只因這些樂曲往往帶有無限詮釋的可能，跟本是不需要，甚至是不可能讓聽眾達致一個共同的理解。有人說，這類曲樂，往往在貝多芬晚期風格 (late style 1824-1827) 的音樂裡呈現。可是，我卻認為貝多芬的中期的音樂風格 (middle style 1803-1820) 的音樂，如英雄交響曲 op.53 等，都已經浮現了這種如謎一樣的特性。而且，我認為這些帶有如謎一樣的音樂特性，正是現代藝術的多角度詮釋 (multiple readings) 的先驅。並為在貝多芬往後一佰多年後的後現代詮釋理論奠下了基石。就讓我們看看前人和今人甚樣看 Beethoven 的中與晚期作品風格裡的謎樣特性。

正文:

Interpreting Beethoven’s Middle and Late Styles of Work

To many experienced concertgoers, Beethoven’s late style works are apt to lack of the composer’s earlier boldness and charm, for which the classical aesthetics is highly praised. The eerie sound is only to signify the listeners that conventional elements have struggled to break away from the work, leaving only incomprehensible fragments behind, and communicating itself as if in cipher, expressing “expressionlessly”. In fact, these fissures and rifts are hard to decipher, just like a spontaneous composite of “irrational” dissonances, perhaps noises, and a series of irrational chopping sound blocks under the governing of an uncontrollable mind.

For this dramatic change of style from an ineffable genius to a nutty deaf madman, the acceptable explanation may be that these works are products of a subjectivity, or of a “personality” ruthlessly proclaiming itself, which breaks through the elegance of form for the sake of expression, replacing sweet harmonies for the dissonance of its sorrow and rejecting any superficial sensuous charm for a deep contemplative profundity.

One explanation for Beethoven’s change of style is that he had a change of personality when he became deaf. His later music, particularly the six late string quartets, starting from op.127 to op. 135, loses previous charm and becomes more dissonant and yet more contemplative.

Therefore, it is not surprise that Theodor Adorno regards Beethoven’s late works are “relegated to the margins of art and brought closer to a personal documentation”. This is why referencing Beethoven’s individual biography and his life are seldom absent from discussions of his late works; as if, in face of human’s life, struggle, destiny, and finally death, conventional art concept has to forfeit its right and give way to the philosophical and aesthetic theory. Thus the concepts of self-consciousness, irony, sublimity, together with the ideas of subjectivity and psychological reflection are often applied in the interpretation of Beethoven’s later works.

However, reading music, symphony in particular, as philosophy, rhetoric, narrative or religious meditation is not only restricted to Beethoven’s late works. In the mid-style Beethoven, works such as Symphony no. 3 in Eb major, Eroica, and Symphony no. 5 in C minor, are also well opened to various modes of interpretation. Scholars, philosophers and musicologists of different generations are like to apply a narrative reading to the mid-Beethoven’s works. For example, both the 19^th century philosophers A.B. Marx and Alexandre Oulibicheff coincidentally offered a programmatic interpretation to Eroica. They both claimed that they could hear the music of the first forty-five bars of this Napoleon-oriented program symphony as a sonic picture of a battlefield where generals, array of soldiers and horses with flags, canons, guns and swords are all participating in the battle.

Besides the battlefields, to many scholars, Erioca is always read as a narration of the growth of a hero, thereby describing the dualistic contrast of the musical elements as the conflict between the hero’s inner nature and his/her external world. Sometimes, this psychological reading could be elevated to a higher humanistic level. Romain Rolland projects the hero’s battle as a battle jointed between two souls, figured roughly as the will and the heart. And the fighting will go on continuously between one’s “ego of love” and the “ego of will” as the self continues growing up. Even the formalists who tend to eschew any programmatic interpretation exploit the dual nature of the contrasting elements in Eroica to give a reading in terms of structural downbeat orientation versus structural upbeat orientation. As we have seen, a narration centers around a metaphoric hero’s or self’s growth, conflicts, struggles, conquer and finally victory seeming to be the basic paradigm for all sorts of interpretation of Eroica, or even of the mid-style works of Beethoven.

To more or less, using programmatic interpretation to understand Beethoven’s music relates to the rising importance of the concept of idée in 19^th century Romanticism. In fact, the power of idée, or idea, in symphonic works is its ability to override formal musical considerations if necessary. Forms, harmonies, and other musical parameters are subjective to idée. When thinking the main theme of Eroica as an idée representing a human hero, the development of this theme is typically characterized as a spiral process in which the hero goes forth, suffers a crisis of consciousness, overcomes certain obstacles, experiences “death” for eternal glory, and finally returns enriched and renewed. Scott Burnham, a contemporary scholar, agrees with the importance of reading Beethoven’s music as a hero narrative and furthers claims that the value of such programmatic reading lies in our “continued subscription to the subject-laden values of the so-called Goethezeit, or Age of Goethe”. According to Burnham, the worldview of the Goethezeit is an “ennobling and all-embracing concept of self”. The emerging forms of the Romantic imagination are based on the “scenarios of the individual self, such as birth and death, personal freedom and destiny, self-consciousness, and self-overcoming”. Due to the unique on-going musical process set in Beethoven’s works, it is hardly surprise that Beethoven’s heroic style merges the Goethean enactment of becoming with the narration of consciousness. And this accentuation of the dramatic process of “becoming” comes along with many German dramas of the Goethezeith, which are usually expressed as the heroic quest for freedom as the underlying idea.

True, it is the idea “freedom” that brings us closer to Beethoven’s symphonic works. In fact, according to Daniel Chua, Beethoven’s middle period works are no longer confined to be interpreted as philosophical heroism, but has elevated to represent a form of humanistic quest for total freedom. Chua borrows Theodor Adorno’s word to explain how the idea of “freedom” can be expressed in Beethoven’s music by saying that “the musical processes of Beethoven’s heroic works articulate the very structures of freedom.” But this is a particular form of freedom, not the cliché slogan of freedom, say, political freedom, of one commonly thinks of nowadays. Indeed Beethoven’s own voice of “freedom”, which can be derived from the German Idealist thought, is a kind of freedom to be articulated by the zero equation between the subject and its actions, which is capable of enabling humanity in two ways: first, “zero, as the origin of human self-creation and generates everything from nothing; second, nothing is the frictionless condition where the will is free from all determination.” Here, the keyword that brings us closer to the understanding of the idea of Beethovenian freedom is “nothing”, that is, in Adorno’s sense, nothing is signified, and “nothing” does anything. Of course, for the philosopher, zero-origin of creation that articulates the freedom of void does not simply mean an empty sign of music. What Beethoven does is to turn the empty sign into a symphonic procedure. It is zero origin because nothing is found at the origin of the creative act in Beethoven’s symphonic music.

Take the opening of symphony no. 9 as example. According to Adorno, the music heard in the initial measures just signifying nothing. This absolutely nothing is due to the nothingness of the programmatic element of this work that refers to. And the music goes on a “continuum of nothing” mainly because the symphony merely begins with an alien two-note gesture leaping downwardly in a bare, hollow sound of open fifth without showing any sign to articulate the forthcoming materials. Its appearance here is just like a free act over which no material has precedence. True, nothing is narrated here. As the music goes on, it still contains nothing and becomes nothing. From this sense, the idea of Beethovenian “freedom” is said to be articulated in the freedom of the void, which is only imaginable in the context of aesthetics, not in the reality.

From the above discussion, Beethovenian scholars seem favor of using programmatic narration to interpret Beethoven’s mid-style works, viewing his music as a representation of a hero’s growth. The success of using this paradigm in many musical interpretations, to more or less, I believe, is because of the revolutionary milieu that makes the fin de siècle Europe well-prepared for accepting of such a “hero” come, and the power of the so-called motivic variation technique, which is largely demonstrated in numerous Beethoven’s works for its fitness for such paradigm. On the contrary, since the political-cultural milieu and Beethoven’s compositional language have been greatly changed in his late period, the paradigm of interpretation thus turns inwardly to the individual side of Beethoven’s personal psychological and aesthetical states, rather than the socio-cultural side. That is why the concept of self-consciousness and irony are well fit for explaining the music of late Beethoven. However, for the far-reaching and overwhelming power of Beethoven’s music, whether it is Beethoven’s mid- or late style works, thinking his music as a philosophical idea is always possible. Daniel Chua’s exploration on Beethovean freedom is undoubtedly a typical example of illustrating this.

David Leung (theory david)

2011-03-11 (re-published)

Biedermeier Culture

前言: 這兩年 AMusTCL的考試的 set piece，範例作品，是 Schubert 在 1816 年完成的 Bb 大調交響曲第五號。由於這首作品的風格，跟舒氏自己在約五個月前寫作的交響曲第四號 ( 悲劇，Tragic)，有很大的分別，樂隊編制也相對細少得可憐，很多聽眾都因而感到大為困惑。寫何在同一個時期寫作的作品會有這麼大的差距呢? 當我教授這首作品時，我就提出了當時在維也納一帶湧現的一個藝術風格，稱為 Biedermeier Style。我相信個算是比較突然出現，但看來不大持久 (1815-1830)，並具有地域性限制的風格，是影響舒伯特寫作這首樂曲的主要來源。可是，何為 Biedermeier Style 呢? 同學相信可從以下簡論找得答案。

正文:

Biedermeier Culture (David Leung)

Few historians will deny that employing the single term “Romantic period” to characterize the European music of the 19^th century, at least in the first half of the century, is problematic. While Hugo Riemann recognizes the presence of anti-Romantic or non-Romantic trends in music, one of his contemporaries, Walter Niemann, speaks of the “near-Romantic” composers such as Sphor and Kuhlau, who were in a lesser rank, though they also composed within this Romantic period. Such style has attracted greater scholarly attention in the recent studies of German literary, art history, and music history, and has been labelled the “Biedermeier” style, which emerged in the year immediately following the French Revolution and its Napoleonic aftermath. The Biedermeier style is characterized as a retreat from Romantic striving and pathos, an abhorrence of excess in all forms, and a love of bourgeois tranquility, and it also concerns the things of everyday, modesty, decorum a reverence for the past, and the idea of self-improvement. Carl Dahlhaus, a modern German Musicologist, regards Biedermeier as a kind of culture and an artistic life which coincided with the 19^th century Romanticism as its sister movement.

Since the intrinsic value of Biedermeier is “realistic”, rustic, domestic, and in favor of restoring the revered past, the Biedermeier music is based upon the classical model enchanted with somewhat noble simplicity and elegance, which easily associates with the Mozartean beauty. The Biedermeier thematic melody tends to favor the uses of classical topos and the phrases are usually short-breathed, easily assimilated with turns of phrase and gesture borrowed from the past. The graceful ornaments commonly found in music often retain much of the shape and expressive gestures of their Mozartean antecedents and are more concerns of an attractive melodic surface than an expression of a strong personal feeling. Even the employment of chromatic materials in music tends to be localized (within a diatonic framework) and ornamental, more than structural. As a result, at the turn of the 18^th century when Romanticism started to play a leading role in all kinds of art, the Biedermeier music was written to conform to the stylistic expectation of 19^th century “public”, and to embody the cultural aspiration of the conservative side of the society. Its essence and values originate in its appeal to and its comprehensibility by the rising middle class. Through the Biedermeier music, the disappearing musical conventions of the Classical era reappeared and were restored in a nostalgic haze, by which the aesthetics and core values of the music of the previous era thus were temporarily redeemed.

David Leung (theorydavid)

2011-03-09 (published)

Bach Chorale 的和聲與四部和聲的分別

前言: 學生在學習寫作初級和聲時，第一種要寫作的音樂積體，通常就是四部和聲，即我們常叫的 SATB 和聲練習。Bach Chorale 這種樂曲，外貌也看來很像四部和聲。雖然寫作四部和聲的法則，是可以 apply 到寫作 Bach Chorale 這種樂曲裡，可是，兩種外貌相似的音樂寫作，卻有很多不同的地方。

正文:

學寫四部和聲是 writing Harmony 的基礎。如果學生基礎不好，他們就不能應付寫作為其他音樂積體而寫作的和聲練習了。學習四部和聲，全面一點的理解是，學習四個聲部導引， 4-part voices leading ，的和聲進行。這意味到四部和聲，不單是和聲進行裡 “縱” 的關係 (vertical relationship)，還有 “橫” 的關係 (linear relationship)，因為有 voice leading 嘛。Bach 的 chorale，從外表的形態看，很像四部和聲的積體。因為兩種音樂的 textures 都是 heterorhythmic (chordal) 的形態 (style)。可是，顧名思義，既說是 chorale，即是一種樂曲，是真實的音樂 (real music)。可以拿來表演的。有它的特定風格，當然也有 Bach 個人運用和聲的風格。反過來說，四部和聲，不是某一種特定曲種 (genre)，所以，它不含音樂風格，也不能拿來演出。正確一點，四部和聲是一個有關調性和聲理論 (tonal harmony theory) 的一個理論模形 (theorectical model)，是用來幫助我們理解和聲研究 (harmony study) 方面，有關和絃進行 (Chord progression) 的一個 ideal model。只因為 Bach Chorale 的 texture 和四部和聲的都是一樣的，同學們就很容易混淆不清了。因此，我們可以推論，四部和聲 model 所顯示的和聲法則，可以不單止運用在 Chorale 這種樂曲上，也可以運用到其他含有和聲寫作的樂曲上，如，piano work，string quartet，或 orchestra work 上。

四部和聲的寫作，包括了很多從對位法演變出來的 rules。當中有一些是 hard rules，也有一些是 soft rules 。既說是 hard rules，寫作時就不能犯的，例如，寫作和聲不能有平衡八度和五度，一個和絃不能含有兩個 leading note，又或所有七和絃的 dissonant seventh 都應當下行一級音解決到 consonant 的和絃音上等。當然，就算是稱為 hard rules，有時也會有例外，始終音樂是一種藝術，exception 是總有的。至於 soft rules，其實是一種原則，可跟也可不跟，視乎前後的音樂語境 (musical context)。例如，我們會盡量做到聲部的橫向旋律是大跳小回，recover 番 leap 空的音，或令 bass line 盡可能進行流暢，多作級進，walking bass line 等。既說是 principle, 就要靈活掌握，視四部和聲不是一大堆 letter names，而是樂音，sol fa names 才可以寫得有效果。這就解釋為何我在較早前說學生的四部和聲習作大都寫得不好，因為他們不以寫音樂的方式去對待這種寫作，也不肯熟背這些寫作的 rules，再以這些 hard and soft rules 去作決定怎樣安排四個聲部的 voice leading 和作 Chord 的選擇。

話說 Bach 的 Chorale 裡，有很多個人的和聲愛 (personal harmonic idiom)。例如， Bach 很不喜歡用三和絃的 second inversion。我們在寫作四部和聲時，可以運用的 passing sixth-four ，就最不用。Bach 只是偶爾用 cadiential six-four ，用在 perfect cadence (IAC/PAC) 處。他在更多時候會用一個 adnormal double 的 I chord 或其 first inversion 在 perfect cadence 處的 V or V7 Chord 之前，令 bass line 含有一個 voice leading 為 3 —-5——1—–，而 upper line 則是一個返向進行的 voice leading，為 3——-2——1——。

我們常說的 abnormal doubling of a chord ，就是說一個三和絃 (triad) 不是 double root (根音)。通常的 soft rules是，所有三和絃最好double 這個和絃的 root 音，這使和絃產生最豐厚的音響，可是，我們就會在以下四種情況不跟從這條 rule (soft): 第一: diminished triad，減和絃是不能 double 三音的。第二: second inversion of a triad 不能 double root音的。第三: 第七音，即 leading note 是不能 double 的，所以當一個和絃的根音是導音時，就不能 double。第四: 當一個和絃 double了根音後，聲部進行會產生一個錯誤，如平衡八度或五度時，我們就當然不能 double root 音了。

可是，除了以上四個顯明的 rules 之外，為何 Bach 會在上述的 cadential movement 處 double 了 I Chord 的 third factor (3音) 呢?，這是 rule ，法則，不能解釋的。但我們既說是 principle，是有彈性的，我們可以用樂音的流暢度去衡量用了 abnormal doubling 後，Bass line是否真的 smooth了。

當然，對於合唱歌曲而言，音樂線條 (melodic lines) 越 smooth 越好。我們剛剛談過，Bach Chorales 的 bass line 是含有很多 walking bass 的設計。所以，就這一點而論，，我們就明白為何 Bach 用 3—5—-1—- abnormal doubled 的 I chord 了。第一: Bach 可以加 passing note “4” 音去做成
3—-4—-5—-1—- 的 bass line。第二: 如果 perfect cadence V—I 這兩個原位 chords 之前再用一個原位 chord I，bass line 1—-5—1—- 就會很 stable，而且，三個原位 chords 一起進行，也會令 cadence 的和絃進行缺乏推進的動力，因為原位的 chord 比轉位的 chord 更 stable。這也解釋了為何我們喜歡在臨近 cadence 處用有張力的 seventh chord 或變化和絃去動 cadential movement。Baroque Music 有一句 description 是這樣的: Music is driven to the cadence。

所以，學習四部和聲，要扎好根底，因為不論是寫作 chorale 還是 classical piano harmony，我們都要運用從四部和聲所學得的 rules 去引導我們作出決定，如何選擇和絃和寫作其中的 voice leading。再者，熟練 harmonic concept，也可以幫助我們理解各個不同時期的和聲風格，和作曲家個人的寫作手法。只有通過分析前人的作品，我們才可以掌握和聲的寫作。這樣，我們就可以說是學懂和聲學了。

David Leung (theorydavid)

2011-03-04 (published)

寫作四部和聲的要訣 — edited

前言: 教了二十多年的和聲學，總覺得現在的學生，在處理四部和聲時，雖是盡力，但卻寫得不好。可是，要寫四部和聲，卻是大多數公開考試的常設題目，學生要逃避也不可能。最近AMusTCL 課程快要開始了，我請學生做一條簡單四部和聲習題，好檢示一下他們的寫作能力，嗚呼! 寄過來給我評改的，仍是老樣子，看來學生真的不懂四部和聲寫作的 soft rules 和 hard rules了。

正文:

我認為學生的問題一般出於他們不肯將和聲寫作視為真正音樂的寫作。他們滿腦子只是 letter names。他們數一個 chord 只懂數 A,B,C, 音，但不肯花多一些時間去視唱其 scale degree 音，即視 1, 3, 5音為 I chord 等。因此，他們的和聲寫作只顯示縱的關係 (vertical) ，卻沒有橫的關係 (linear)。所以很難寫得好 voice leading。他們的四部根本沒有 voice leading ( linear 的一面)。但為何學生不肯改過來呢? 就是因為他們樣樣學習，都只是有洞補洞，急就章的學習，考完試，過關了，就不再對自己有要求，不再練習，不肯扎根，這樣，碰上高一級程度的考試，就不能應付了。所以當學生考完八級後，再上 AMusTCL，他們就應付不了 Bach Chorale 的寫作了。

學生 BR 寫了一個短的 Bach Chorale 習作給我點評他的水平。我看後，不禁搖搖頭。只好趁此機會淺談一下和聲寫作的概念。

1. 和聲進行:

        單看 BR 寫下的 chord symbol，就看出他不明和絃間的進行規則了。
        和絃的進行，由如語言的寫作法則，是有一定的限制的。
       你寫一句 simple sentence，一定是 S —- V—- O，例如: He plays football。
      你不會寫 plays he football。
      Tonal Harmony 的法則 (harmonic grammar)，也與此類同。

2. 和聲功能:

因為以調性為中心，所以，chord 進行的選擇，第一個考慮因素就是 support/establish tonality。
為了達到這個要求，我們必需先看看一個音階所能構成的 triads 的和聲功能。因為這功能 (function) 就與語言的結構類同。

我們可將 I，(vi，iii ) 歸入 tonic function ，主功能。以I Chord 為首，vi chord 為副，iii 為替代。
又將 IV， (ii，vi) 歸為 PD 或 SD function，下屬功能。以IV Chord為首，ii chord為副，vi 為較次的替代。

然後，將 V ，(vii dim，和 iii ) 歸為 dominant ，D function，屬功能。以 V 為首，vii dim 為副，iii 為替代。

好了，原來各級和絃是有 hierarchy (高低等級) 的。我們常見到的和絃進行，如果要全力 support tonality，其功能就會是 T—- (PD) —- D—- I 。偶爾 pre-dominant 的和絃不出現也是可以的。因為最重要的是 dominant 解決到 tonic 這個 process 去 keep tonality。查實這組和絃的進行，很像語言的 grammar，就是: Tom always Plays Football。
S Adv V O

Chord prg. T PD D T

從以上的比較，我們可得知，SD/PD 的和絃就等於語言學上的 adverb，拿來 articulate dominant 功能的和絃 (Verb) 出來，而最終的目的地也同樣是 tonic function 的主和絃。

所以，如果我們去分析一些簡單的和聲題目，不難發現，來來去去的和絃進行，都是

I—IV—-V—-vi，vi—-ii—V—I 之類。應付基本和聲的習題，我們應該不會害怕多用這些 function 清楚的和絃。用多了 I，可用 vi。用多了 IV，可選用 ii 代替。偶爾用 iii 來 prolong I 功能。另外，原位和第一轉位的選擇，是要勾劃一個流暢的 bass line 為目的，不是隨意選擇。

當然，要 support 調性，最重要的還是 cadence 裡用的和絃是不能任意改變，要跟足是某個 cadence 種類的要求。

我們光看看 BR 的chord selection: 第一句配絃就有問題:

V / V7 iic V vii7b (half dim7) I vii7b (half-dim7) / ii

第一疑問: 為何弱拍到強拍會用同 bass note 的 V Chord. 我們一般是祈望轉 chord 的，不然就產生了syncopated 的 harmonic rhythm。但 Bach 偶爾會在樂句 opening 重覆 I Chord，以穩定 Home tonality 先。但不是重覆 V chord.
第二疑問: 為何 V7 進行到 pre-dominant 的 ii，還要是 second inversion，試問怎樣 keep tonality?
第三疑問: 為何 vii7 (half-dim7) 有兩個 leading notes?
第四推問，為何 seven factor of a seventh chord 沒有下行決到 consonant 的音上?
第五疑問，為何 cadence 用的 chords 是 vii7 (half-dim7) 到 ii chord? 這是甚麼 cadence?
第六疑問，為何有這麼多 second inversion 的 chord 出現? 所有second inversion 的triad 都是有條件的運用，不是像其他原位，轉位的和絃一樣，隨意運用的。

因此，寫作和聲，基本說來，是需要學生熟知其中的原則和規則。我看先學好和聲的概念，懂得解釋和聲在作品中的作用，再加上多分析大師的作品，看看他們是怎樣運用和聲，選擇和絃，其目的何在等。然後學生就可以摸彷 masters 去寫作他們的 harmonic style。

學習不離臨摹，在開始的時後，不要急急寫自己的，也不要對自己沒有要求，這樣，我們的寫作才有進步，

我有機會也多寫一些實用的音樂寫作的文章，好與讀者，學生分享個中心得，互相鼓勵。

David Leung (theorydavid)

2011-02-28 (published)